The Hard Sf Renaissance

Something exciting has been happening in modern SF. After decades of confusion, many of the field's best writers have been returning to the subgenre called, roughly, "hard SF"-science fiction focused on science and technology, often with strong adventure plots. Now, World Fantasy Award-winning editors David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer present an immense, authoritative anthology that maps the development and modern-day resurgence of this form, argues for its special virtues and present preeminence-and entertains us with some spectacular storytelling along the way. Included are major stories by contemporary and classic names such as Poul Anderson, Stephen Baxter, Gregory Benford, Ben Bova, David Brin, Arthur C. Clarke, Hal Clement, Greg Egan, Joe Haldeman, Nancy Kress, Paul McAuley, Frederik Pohl, Alastair Reynolds, Kim Stanley Robinson, Robert J. Sawyer, Karl Schroeder, Charles Sheffield, Brian Stableford, Allen Steele, Bruce Sterling, Michael Swanwick, and Vernor Vinge. The Hard SF Renaissance will be an anthology that SF readers return to for years to come. A major anthology of the "hard SF" subgenre-arguing that it's not only the genre's core, but also its future: Poul Anderson Stephen Baxter Gregory Benford Ben Bova David Brin Ted Chiang Arthur C. Clarke Hal Clement Greg Egan Michael Flynn Joe Haldeman James P. Hogan James Patrick Kelly Nancy Kress Geoffrey A. Landis David Langford Paul Levinson Paul McAuley David Nordley Frederik Pohl Robert Reed Alastair Reynolds Kim Stanley Robinson Robert J. Sawyer rdKarl Schroeder Charles Sheffield Joan Slonczewski Brian Stableford Allen Steele Bruce Sterling Michael Swanwick Vernor Vinge Peter Watts Sarah Zettel

David G. Hartwell, called "an editor extraordinaire" by Publishers Weekly, is one of science fiction's most experienced and influential editors. As an editor with Berkley Books, Pocket Books, William Morrow, and Tor Books, he has worked with many of the field's best authors and edited many award-winning works. He is the author of Age of Wonders, a nonfiction study of the science fiction field. Among his many anthologies are the bestselling World Treasury of Science Fiction and the World Fantasy Award winner The Dark Descent. He is the holder of a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Columbia University, a winner of the Eaton Award, and has been nominated for the Hugo Award twenty-four times.

Kathryn Cramer coedited the World Fantasy Award-winning anthology The Architecture of Fear and was the editor of its widely praised sequel Walls of Fear. She has edited and coedited several other anthologies. With David G. Hartwell, she edited The Ascent of Wonder, a major anthology covering the earlier history and development of "hard SF," to which this volume is a companion. Hartwell and Cramer also coedit the annual Year's Best Fantasy and Year's Best SF series. They live in Pleasantville, NY, with their son, Peter.

Introduction: New People, New Places, New Politics
Paul McAuley: Gene Wars
Greg Egan: Wang's Carpets
Poul Anderson: Genesis
Kim Stanley Robinson: Arthur Sternbach Brings the Curveball to Mars
Stephen Baxter: On the Orion Line
Nancy Kress: Beggars in Spain
Gregory Benford: Matter's End
Arthur C. Clarke: The Hammer of God
James Patrick Kelly: Think Like a Dinosaur
Ben Bova: Mount Olympus
Robert Reed: Marrow
Joan Slonczewski: Microbe
Charles Sheffield: The Lady Vanishes
Bruce Sterling: Bicycle Repairman
David Brin: An Ever-Reddening Glow
Kim Stanley Robinson: Sexual Dimorphism
G. David Nordley: Into the Miranda Rift
Robert J. Sawyer: The Shoulders of Giants
Geoffrey A. Landis: A Walk in the Sun
Joe Haldeman: For White Hilll
Brian Stableford: A Career in Sexual Chemistry
Paul McAuley: Reef
Hal Clement: Exchange Rate
Greg Egan: Reasons to Be Cheerful
Michael Swanwick: Griffin's Egg
Alastair Reynolds: Great Wall of Mars
Peter Watts: A Niche
Stephen Baxter: Gossamer
James P. Hogan: Madam Butterfly
Ted Chiang: Understand
Karl Schroeder: 0Halo
David Langford: Different Kinds of Darkness
Vernor Vinge: Fast Times at Fairmont High
David Brin: Reality Check
Paul Levinson: The Mendelian Lamp Case
Sarah Zettel: Kinds of Strangers
Allan Steele: The Good Rat
Michael Flynn: Built Upon the Sands of Time
Bruce Sterling: Taklamakan
Frederick Pohl: Hatching the Phoenix
Gregory Benford: Immersion